bl oo d
by cherrySUNSETx
Summary: an every day aspect for normal shinobi — the common factor in their relationship · sakuino.


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**thank _i spazz with pizzazz_ for this one, guys (:  
she /requested/ it & her inosaku fic inspired me to keep writing it.**

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The first thing Sakura found out about Ino was that she didn't like blood. Before Sakura knew that Ino liked Sasuke so much, before she found out the blond's favourite colour was purple, before she knew Ino's name meant pig, before Ino told her not to hide her forehead. The pinkette, on the other hand, didn't mind blood, even as a young child, it never bugged her. It was just there, a part of life, the thing that happened when you scraped yourself. Besides, she wanted to be a kunoichi, and kunoichi couldn't be afraid of blood, how would that work?

But Ino, dear Yamanaka Ino, she hated it. And most of the other shinobi in her graduating class knew this as well.

It was a Tuesday. Personally, Sakura had never liked Tuesdays. Tuesdays and Thursdays were like filler days. Mondays were the beginning, Wednesdays the middle, Fridays the end, and Saturday and Sunday were the sacred days off. So she sat in the Academy classroom, her head held high but a strained look for an eight year old in her eyes as she slowly wrote down in her bright pink spiraled notebook the notes she was supposed to be taking. One elbow rested on the table, and her chin in turn rested on her palm as she wrote, staring at the chalkboard Iruka-sensei was demonstrating on up front, her bubblegum pink hair annoying her, just a little, when one (very) loud and (very) annoying voice disrupted her thoughts.

"Iruka-sensei! Stopstopstop, come back here…! She's bleeding and I think she might, she might…- "

Sakura's head turned towards the source of the noise, the uppity blond known as Naruto, then looked to see the girl he was talking about. Oh, Ino. Yamanaka Ino, with her pretty blond hair and blue eyes. Sakura noticed the way the girl held her hand and looked away, eyes screwed shut, biting her lip, and then she looked to the front of the classroom to see Iruka walking back towards them, a slightly worried look on his face.

"Ino…? Ino, are you okay?"

The girl's head shook, and Sakura slowly turned her attention away, not wanting to be the one caught staring, although everyone else was as well.

"Ino… you can't be a kunoichi if you're scared of blood."

That was a smartass remark coming from the pineapple-head that sat beside her and she stared at him, through the fear on her face, and she just stared, shaking her head slowly.

"I think you can." Was that her voice? Surprised at herself, Sakura turned her head, looking straight at Ino and Shikamaru. "You can get past it. Don't listen to him." What was she saying? She was eight years old, she didn't know what she was talking about. As she turned around, feeling stupid for speaking up, she missed the reaction on Ino's face.

She missed the way the girl's fear slowly disappeared, and her face set into determination and defiance, and the way she pinched Shikamaru and stuck her bloody finger in her mouth, not looking at it.

She missed the sudden, important change.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Now they are new genin, each on their own teams. Sakura had Naruto, the idiot, Sasuke, the object of her affection for, um, _forever_, and a perverted sensei, Kakashi. Ino had that Shikamaru-pineapple-head-kid that doubted her, an, um, large, but very kind ninja named Chouji, and their sensei who seemed to chain-smoke.

The pinkette and the blond had been best friends at one point, and then they were rivals. They still were now, but Sakura liked to think of it as a sort of… friendly rivalry. After all, the friendship thing couldn't have just _disappeared_ could it? No, no it couldn't have.

So now that they are genin, they are trying to become chuunin, like any self respecting kunoichi. They are in the middle of exams now, fighting in the preliminaries, and only one of them can win.

And both want this so, so much that Sakura is pushing herself harder than she knew she could, and Ino has chopped off her hair for the sake of a win.

And they are panting, heaving and at a complete loss for breath at opposite ends of the arena, staring at each other, both pushing for the win, both wanting to be the best.

It was here, during the time Sakura moved to put her hand on her knee to hold herself up, that she noticed the cut on Ino's arm, and the blood dripping down it. To her surprise, it didn't even seem as if the blond had noticed, nor cared, and she was immediately reminded of the Academy days.

Straightening herself, Sakura took a deep breath and charged forward, and Ino did the same.

They met in a clash and Sakura felt drops of her rival's blood on her own skin, and then it was over, and neither won, and both lost.

The last thing Sakura saw was the way Ino's shortened hair flew over her face, and how her blood was drying, and how she looked absolutely _beautiful_ in such a vulnerable position, and this thought scared her so much she didn't speak to Ino for days straight.

What Sakura doesn't know is that Ino thought the same thing as she closed her blue eyes, and was hurt when the other girl began to ignore her. But she didn't show it, and she focused on training so she didn't embarrass herself like that again.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

They are chuunin now, and it's been a year and a half since Sasuke left, and less time since Naruto has, they think it's been about a year. The village is quieter without the two, and empty, and neither of the girls can stand it. Sakura can't stand it because her boys are gone, both of them at the same time, and she misses the way they compliment each other; Sasuke, the cold, dark ice to Naruto's bright, warm fire. It feels lonely without them there, and Ino, she can't stand it because Sakura is unhappy.

So Ino asks her, one day, about the moment back in the academy. They are sitting on that old bridge where Sakura's team always used to meet, leaning over the edge, with popsicles (Ino's was pina colada flavoured, and it matched her hair, just like Sakura's was cherry) in their hands. And Sakura looks at her popsicle for a moment, then looks back at her friend.

"Because it was true. See? You're a kunoichi. You got over it." She answers slowly, and turns back to her melting treat, taking a large bite of it, and Ino turns away too, thinking about this.

And moments later, while she's staring at the water, Sakura produces a kunai and proceeds to take Ino's arm, and while the blond looks over in surprise, Sakura has it pressed to her skin and before Ino knows any better, her friend has made a cut down her arm and taken the kunai back, and Ino just stares, her popsicle barely staying in her grip. She sucks on the inside of her lip so she doesn't blow up, and then she asks. "Sakura. What was that for?"

And Sakura laughs, laughs because for once Ino is just oblivious, and Ino stares because it's just a _little_ painful, and it's bleeding and she doesn't have bandages. "Sakura." She repeats with a growl, but Sakura only smiles.

"Okay, you're officially insane." The blond decides after a second of just more staring and then carelessly drops her popsicle so she can stare at her shirt, debating on whether or not this cut is worth tearing it up for a bandage, but her debate is solved for her as her arm is taken again and she looks to see Sakura wrapping a normal gray-white bandage around it, intent on her work even though it's so easy, so easy for her.

"See? You're not afraid of the blood. All it took was a little push for you to realize that. I knew you'd be smart enough to realize it, that's why I said it." The pinkette informed her with a smile as she finished wrapping it, and turned back to her cherry popsicle, finishing it off with one last bite, leaning over to drop her stick on top of the discarded, melted remains of Ino's pina colada one.

And Ino just stares at the way her cherry blossom friend smiles a radiant smile that lights up the world and kicks her left foot against the ankle of her right side, and how she leans over just a little farther, looking down at the cerulean water with a joyous sparkle in her absolutely beautiful, beautiful emerald green eyes, and then she looks at her arm, and sighs to herself. What did she ever do to deserve someone like that?

And while Ino looks down at her arm, Sakura's green eyes turn to her companion, and she watches the way her blond hair (grown long and pretty again, the way she likes it) waves in the slight wind, and her crystal blue eyes, that are just like a piece of the sky, are happy without a smile on her face, and she digs the nail of her thumb into her first finger, and Sakura knows this is a nervous gesture. But what is she nervous about?

"Thank you," Ino says after a moment of quiet, and the soft smile she is rewarded with is enough to send her home floating.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

This is their first mission together as Jounin. They've both had several weeks experience with other Jounin on A-ranked missions, but this is the very first time either has seen the other in the Jounin uniform, out on the battlefield. Together.

Sakura watches from her cover Ino's team taking on the three other rogue nin they were sent to kill. It is a fierce battle, nearly as bad as the one she remembers being in with old Chiyo, fighting that puppet man, Sasori. Her heart is racing as she clutches the pouch that holds her emergency medical supplies, and she almost squeezes her eyes closed as Ino barely jumps out of the way, and she can just_ hear_ the whoosh of air that comes from the huge sword that man is wielding.

Chouji has become huge now, in that unique jutsu of his, he's now at least the size of a building as he rolls towards the group, and Sakura is reminded of bowling pins as two are stuck (one from Shikamaru's famous shadow possession jutsu, and one by Ino's mind hold) and the other is working his sword out of the ground, obviously having thought he would hit the blond. Sakura can see the fear pass on his face and as Chouji bowls towards them, he lets out a curse and jumps out of the way, leaving both his teammates and his sword as he disappears into the surrounding forest; also Sakura's cover.

Now she must be aware of her surroundings, because this ninja could come from anywhere, and although she needs to stay alive to be able to heal, she may not be able to come out of this unscathed, she can't be sure. So she takes one quiet, deep breath and slows her racing heart, places just that much more energy into keeping her genjutsu up, but not enough that she would waste life-giving, precious, precious chakra, because there's a good chance she'll need it.

Especially now that she sees Shikamaru faltering slightly, and Chouji's deflating and Ino, there's a gash on her arm that must have just appeared, and the two rogue nin still there are there, but one's looking very woozy and the other is barely holding himself together… now where's that third one…?

And then he comes from nowhere, and Sakura completely blows her cover as she accidentally drops the genjutsu and screams and comes out into the open, shouting for her friend's life, and as Ino turns around, he has a kunai out and two shuriken have already hit her, one slicing at each arm. When the nin rushing at her with the kunai glanced in her direction (how often is it you have a screaming pink haired medic nin jump out of a tree at you, anyways?) Ino took this time to duck out of the way, biting her lip from the pain.

At this pause, and the fact that the kunoichi had flickered away, there was a snarl on this ninja's face, and Sakura couldn't get over just how fucking _stupid _she had been, but she fumbled for a kunai anyways, in case she would need it, but then he couldn't move. And it was here Sakura found Shikamaru had him in his family's bloodline, and she shot him a relieved look that he didn't return because he was concentrating. Chouji was breathing heavily, one hand in his pocket, and Sakura hoped he wasn't going to start consuming those ninja pills, and Ino was holding her hands against her arms, bloodying them up.

As Shikamaru held the most threatening of their enemies, and Chouji had taken one of the supplementary pills and had immediately proceeded to _crush_ (quite literally) the other two, Sakura stumbled as she moved in too fast a manner for her numbed mind to comprehend over towards Ino, pulling her hands away. "You alright?" She asked quickly. By the time she reached her, Sakura could smell the metallic scent that was infiltrating Ino's body at the very moment… as Ino nodded, Sakura's hands were already glowing as she covered each gash, remarkably deep for just a shuriken wound. But then, he had been rather close when he threw them.

"Y…yeah, fine. Hurry. Shikamaru may be faltering out there…" The blond mumbled as she felt Sakura's hands, cool from the chakra, but yet fiery and stinging slightly from the way she was working. Her eyes closed for a moment, but opened quickly enough that nothing that happened except another bead of sweat appeared on her teammate's face from the struggle. "Saku…" She started, beginning to pull away from the healing, but she was riveted in place by the strength her friend had.

Sakura worked quickly, ignoring the pull, digging deeper after a small fleck of silver that continued to run away from her, up Ino's bloodstream, towards the heart. She somehow kept her composure, closing her eyes to focus on the drop of colour that evaded her, her mind racing in her subconscious, but the rest was focused. Focused, because if she stopped chasing, Ino would die.

There it was. The poison.

"Saku…ra… I…no… any…time now…" This was the characteristic worried grunt that came from the strategic genius, but only Ino heard it. She looked down at Sakura, then back at the brunette and frowned.

"I think she's really busy… Shika… use the… other one." She managed, between the stinging and the numbing coming from her arms, wincing slightly. He heaved a sigh and lifted his arms, though, battling the entire way, to form another seal and close his eyes for concentration as his shadow slowly weaved up the nin's body.

"Still… hold… still…" Escaped the pinkette's mouth as she pushed herself harder, biting her lip, following the silver droplet until her blue chakra had surrounded it. With a pained sigh, Sakura held onto it. "Right here. Make… a cut." She said slowly, focusing more on the poison as she indicated the spot she wanted with her other hand, having finished up that arm. Ino, slightly confused, stared at her, but decided-- she was the medic nin, she knew best. Slipping her hand into her pouch, she produced a kunai, and hesitated as she placed the metal to her skin, and then slowly pressed down. It wasn't going fast enough, however, so Sakura head butted the weapon, causing Ino to make a larger gash than probably necessary, but it helped her out a lot.

Using her chakra, Sakura forced the venom out of Ino's bloodstream with the other blood that was escaping her body through the cut. As it bled out, she coughed, sighed, and relaxed. "Let that bleed a little longer…" She murmured, looking up at Ino who was just staring at her.

"Guys…"

They looked up in time to see Shikamaru delivering the final blow, and dropping to his knees as did their adversary, and Sakura chuckled. She chuckled, then she laughed, then she cried from laughing.

"Good job… good job…" She mumbled, hugging herself. God, how close she'd come to losing Ino.

And the blond in question, just stared at her friend, then her teammates, and then at her arm, deciding it had bled enough. What was wrong, she didn't know, maybe never would by the way Sakura was laughing, but she wanted it bandaged anyways. So she kicked the pinkette in the side, one brow arched. "You gonna bandage this now?"

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Sakura is now a medic-nin and her skills in that area are enough to rival that of her master's; the great Tsunade herself. She is almost always stained in blood from her surgeries and patients, there are essentially permanent bags under her eyes that no amount of make up can cover, her hands are calloused and she has seen things only a small percentage of others have seen. She almost couldn't be happier.

Ino is an interrogator-Jounin and she can scare even the toughest, most shinobi into telling her whatever it is she wants to know. She is almost always feeling terrible about her job, her body is scarred from the countless missions she has taken and she can tell you how she got each one, she no longer cares so much about her appearance and her hair has been cut to her shoulders for easier maintenance. She, too, almost couldn't be happier.

Almost.

After one particularly bad surgery, Sakura leaves the hospital with her bag in hand, holding it to her chest. Her pink hair is matted to the sides of her face from the intensity and sweat that came from the surgery, and she's sighing while the door closes. "Finally," She mumbles, because she never thought she'd get out of there, and it's got to be close to two in the morning right now, but she doesn't want to go home. No, she wants…

Ramen.

So she made her way to Ichiraku's, and when she got there, she was surprised they were open, but they were, and she smiled as she ducked under to sit down, dropping her bag on the floor. "Hello… I'd just like chicken ramen, and tea, please." She requested without a yawn, and that cheerful looking brunette left to make her food, and she crossed her arms onto the table and laid her head down.

And Ino, nearly on the opposite side of the village, leaves the interrogation building with a heavy heart filled with guilt like always after a tough one, and she brushes her hair back and laughs in an attempt to lighten the sorrow mood that surrounds her. She walks slowly, because she doesn't think she wants to go back home, her steps unsure and awkward, and then.

She decides she wants ramen.

So her path changes and she arrives at Ichiraku's, and she ducks under and is startled at the sight of Sakura, slumped over, and Ino slowly takes a seat beside her friend. "Saku… Sakura-chan," She says quietly, shaking her shoulder, and the girl slowly brings her head up, blinking at her.

"Late surgery." She mumbled as her ramen was placed in front of her, as well as her tea, and she thanks Ayame and begins to eat without even an "Itadakimasu". Ino, on the other hand, turns to the brunette behind the counter and promptly orders the same thing her friend had.

"Late interrogation." Ino adds with a smile, watching her eat until her own food is placed in front of her. A soft "Itadakimasu" left her mouth as she began to scoop the ramen into her mouth, now being the one watched because Sakura was done with her food.

When both were finished, Ino easily picked up the tab for both herself and Sakura (much to Sakura's dismay; she knew she made more money than her…) and stood up, thanking Ayame for the food, and casually pulling Sakura by her wrist dragged her out into the night air. Sakura let herself be taken, stumbling forward after picking up her bag, to stand next to the slightly taller blond. Ino jerked away again, pulling Sakura towards a bench, and shocked, Sakura pulled back slightly, making Ino's grip fall, and the blond faltered. She looked back at the pink-haired medic-nin, and after a moment of watching, Sakura reached out and slid her hand into Ino's, filling the spaces between her fingers with her own, walking over towards her.

Both felt a shock that was unlike holding hands as a little kid while they ran through the green, green grass. Both felt a shock that was like it was meant to be like that, their fingers entwined, their bodies touching.

And so neither pulled away, and Ino sat down on the bench and gently pulled Sakura to her, and the slightly smaller kunoichi settled on the other's lap, and they still held hands, as Ino watched her, only now noticing the small drop of crimson on the other's lips, and she realizes this surgery must have been intense for her, to bite her lip enough to bleed. It's a habit Ino knows well, because anytime Sakura is trying to stay focused, that's what she does.

"Sakura… you're the one bleeding this time." She mumbles, placing one finger on the girl's lips, swiping the blood away, and Sakura smiles softly at the touch.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

They don't actually kiss for another two weeks.

Their relationship is slow-paced and hesitant, because there are no other couples like themselves in all of Konoha, or at least, none that they've seen. They didn't hold hands in public until a week after the first night, and they were even more careful about how they hugged each other, even though girls hugged each other all the time… this was, is different.

It is early to mid morning, the sky is clear, and they have just come back from another one of those A-ranked Jounin missions. It's strange, for both of them, actually, because Sakura has spent more time in the hospital then on the field, and Ino has spent more time in that dark room than on the field, but they, along with one Inuzuka Kiba and one Uzumaki Naruto, were chosen specially for that mission, and who are they to go against their Hokage's will, especially when they know they are best suited, as well?

Kiba's shirt is half gone, torn to use for bandages, he has many smears of blood along his face and visible stomach, and there is a long, relatively deep wound on his back, and he carries Akamaru, with one broken leg and many scratches, carefully.

Naruto limps ahead determinedly, his entire right arm and left hand bandaged up from the use of Rasengan, his head and his entire body throbs from the use of Kyuubi's three tails, his eyes still shine in bloodlust, but Kyuubi's gone, and he wants to just keel over and sleep from the exhaustion but he doesn't.

Sakura is the one who is most unscathed, with only a few minor cuts and bruises, although her medical pouch is completely depleted of supplies, her head and hands ache and her chakra is completely gone, and trudges back in only a breast band because of the great need for bandages.

Ino walks steadily forward, trying her hardest not to limp even though she wants to, because her ankle was broken but healed to a minor sprain, and just like Sakura and Kiba, nearly half her shirt was used for bandages as well.

Kiba and Naruto head to the hospital first, because Sakura tells them she has to talk to Ino. The boys dismiss it as a relationship thing (they're two of the most accepting people, concerning the girls' sexuality and involvement with one another) and give both of them a weak smile as they use each other for support into the hospital.

"How's your ankle?" Sakura asks quietly as they stand there, and Ino offers her a grimace.

"I can walk." It is painful, but she doesn't want to limp, so she won't, and she won't complain and be seen as weak by her lover… or her partner, whatever term the other would prefer using.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more for it… it took so much chakra to restrain Naruto and fix his damaged body… and he was in a fatal state…" Sakura mumbled, biting her lip, looking away and again feeling like she was useless. She had let down the one person in the world that she loved more than air itself.

"Sakura, stop it. Like you said, Naruto's injuries were more pressing. I understand, and I'm not weak. Neither are you." Ino said firmly, placing her finger underneath the other's chin, raising her head. "Now, look at me, and tell me you're strong."

"I…"

"Say it."

"I'm strong. I'm not a weak person, I'm strong."

Ino smiled, and dropped her finger, finding the other girl's hands. "Thank you. You are strong." Sakura offered a smile of her own, squeezing the blond's hands.

"So, Sakura-chan, you didn't send the boys ahead for no reason…" Ino murmured quietly, stepping closer to her, looking down, resting her forehead on hers, so their skin touched. "What was it you wanted, hmm…?"

Sakura's grin disappeared as a spark entered her eye and she dropped the girl's hands, wrapping her arms around her waist, hugging Ino closer. "I love you, Yamanaka Ino…" She said quietly as she leaned up, whispering the words into her neck, and Ino felt her heart race.

"I love you, too, Haruno Sakura…"

"Then kiss me."

Right here, right now…? They were in a public place, people were milling about… what would they think? They were already staring at the way too friendly embrace between the two kunoichi.

"Ino…"

Okay, okay.

Pulling her head back, she looked down at her partner, staring for a moment at her lips, and then slowly, hesitantly, she leaned down as Sakura leaned up, and their lips touched in a sweet, chaste kiss and as they pulled back, both girls smiled, oblivious to the angry, disapproving glares and looks and darkly muttered comments coming from the civilians.

Oblivious to the two injured boys watching them with happy grins from behind the glass window doors, they leaned together to share another gentle kiss, their hands entwining. And it didn't matter that both were nearly covered in blood and sweat and tears and dirt and bruises, and Sakura lacked a real shirt, and Ino's ankle felt like giving out. It didn't matter because they were in love.

Love.

Beautiful, beautiful love that is simple and sweet and genderless.

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**an:** wow. i'm actually proud of this one, guys,  
and i think i could have gone on for nearly forever  
writing this. i really like sakura and ino together (:  
anyways, i prompted myself with "blood", and liked  
how it ended up. so. . . reviews & whatnot are highly  
appreciated, since i really like this piece and alll. haha.  
& i kinda love how it started out all easy and lighthearted  
and small sections, and then towards their later years,  
i described things more & there was more paragraphs. . .  
ah well, i like it (: soooo;; **thanks for reading, guys, ! **


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